Ian Cohen Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's Pompano Beach Main Event

The 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Pompano Beach $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew 721 entries, surpassing the $1 million guarantee by over $92,000. After three starting flights and two more days of combined-field action, it was Florida local Ian Cohen who emerged victorious with the title, the top prize of $183,100, and his first gold ring.

The Ft. Lauderdale resident now has more than $301,000 in lifetime tournament earnings after securing this career-best payday.

Cohen also earned 912 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second POY-qualified victory of the year, having taken down a $400 buy-in event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in August for $14,470 and 134 points. With 1,046 total points, he now sits inside the top 600 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

The top 74 finishers made the money in this event, but just eight players advanced to the final day. Two-time World Poker Tour champion James Carroll was the first to fall, with his pocket jacks running into the pocket queens of Cohen. The larger pair held up and Carroll settled for $18,246 as the eighth-place finisher.

Cohen then won a race with K-Q suited against the pocket eights of Jack Nathan (7th – $23,988) to further narrow the field. Another coin flip spelled the end of Jose Chapui’s (6th – $32,219) run, with his A-J suited unable to best the pocket nines of Anatoly Nikitin.

Steve Karp got all-in with second pair and an ace kicker trailing top pair of Nikitin after the flop. The turn gave Nikitin trips to leave Karp drawing dead. He earned $44,190 as the fifth-place finisher.

Robert LeBeau shoved with Q-9 as the first to act and received a call from Cohen on the button. Cohen held A-Q for the best hand, which held through the river. Lebeau was awarded $61,864 for his fourth-place showing.

A battle of the blinds resulted in the next knockout. Nikitin moved all-in from the small blind with A5 and Cohen woke up with QQ in the big blind. Nikitin flopped a pair of fives but failed to improve any further and was eliminated in third place ($88,364).

Heads-up play began with Cohen holding a sizable lead over Josh Hillock. After blinding down even further, Hillock got the last of his short stack in with 92 trailing the J10 of Cohen. The board ran out Q72510 and Cohen made a pair of tens to win the pot and the title. Hillock cashed for $118,728 as the runner-up.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: WSOP / Hayley Hochstetler.

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